All Safe and Sound
Nathanos leaped over a fallen tree trunk and heard the sound of a bowstring being pulled behind him. He instinctively ducked to avoid it, but several times he neither saw the arrow flying towards him nor heard the sound of it hitting anything.
'Is her quiver empty? Is she trying to make me stop?'
Sylvanas clearly did this; in the forest, the black cloak failed to conceal her, instead making her highly visible. Even so, the Female Elf found herself unable to catch Nathanos; the human must have scouted the area beforehand. To stop Nathanos, Sylvanas was forced to devise this method—drawing the bowstring without releasing an arrow.
The chase didn't last long before Sylvanas noticed Nathanos had stopped on his own. But he was still facing away from the Female Elf; something was blocking his way!
Catching her breath, Sylvanas approached slowly, her movements a mixture of excitement and wariness. This long pursuit had lasted so long. Crossing oceans and traversing deserts, it was all for this moment. For it, she had even abandoned her duty to protect Quel'Thalas. But would such a sacrifice truly be rewarded?
When she saw the sickly bluish-gray skin on Nathanos's neck and behind his ears, her heart nearly leaped out of her chest. On her way here, Sylvanas had mentally prepared herself for a long time; she had considered the possibility that Nathanos had been resurrected, and that he might have become a monster like Arthas. Even so, she clung to a sliver of hope that he could overcome everything, but when faced with the truth, when confronted with his retreating figure, the Female Elf completely lost her composure. All she could feel was heartache.
I must take him with me!
"Turn around." Sylvanas's trembling voice surprised even herself.
Nathanos didn't respond with any action; in fact, he hadn't even heard the Female Elf's words. He stopped because the mysterious person had just engaged in a mental conversation with him. If it weren't for the other's intervention, he would have already decided to retaliate against the Elf pursuing him.
Medivh spotted Nathanos and Sylvanas from the sky. The humans on the ground also spotted him, and familiar memories flooded back; the raven reminded him of many things.
This continent... has fallen! Shadows shroud... the land, no matter what you do... disaster strikes. If you wish to survive... cross... the sea, to the west.
'If you... stay, you will experience unimaginable pain. This pain will not come from... but from you...'
The fragmented echoes of the conversation from my memory...
"I remember!" Nathanos trembled, raising his head to glare at the prophet who had transformed from a raven back into human form. This transformation didn't surprise him at all, as he remembered a similar process. "It's all...your fault." His sudden outburst of anger stunned Sylvanas, while Medivh's eyes held more helplessness.
"I remember... you seemed to have told me that if I stayed, I would... I would?"
"You will suffer unimaginable pain." Medivh smiled bitterly, looked Nathanos over, and found that his body was well preserved, unlike those resurrected beings who were missing limbs.
"Yes!" Nathanos hesitated for a few seconds. It was that very sentence, and it was the wizard in front of him who had said it. But he wanted to recall more—why had he been so angry just now? Perhaps the answer lay in his memory. But the more he tried to remember, the more his head ached.
Sylvanas watched as Nathanos slowly knelt on the ground in agony, wanting to comfort him, but Medivh stopped the Female Elf from approaching the human. "Don't disturb him. He must break the Lich King's curse himself. The Scourge's masters have sealed his memories—crucial memories. Nathanos must remember them himself."
"He's about to break down!" Sylvanas roared.
"Do you want him to become the Lich King's slave?" Medivh's louder voice intimidated the restless Ranger.
Sylvanas felt all her strength drain away, and her face turned deathly pale. Her fingertips dug into her skin, drawing blood. At this moment, she could only watch Nathanos suffer, utterly powerless to do anything.
If Alleria were here...
She clenched her fists.
Why am I not Alleria? If I were..., her eyes flickered.
Nathanos trembled from the persistent torment. He gritted his teeth and didn't cry out, unaware that the stone he had inadvertently picked up with his right hand had been crushed into pieces.
"My head!" He collapsed to the ground, clutching himself. "So cold..." He rubbed his hands against his icy arms. "Where am I? Who am I? I... I can't feel anything... I can't see anything."
Medivh's hand, gripping Atiesh's, was sweaty. The Guardian realized he'd never felt so nervous before, and because of someone else. The Lich King was constantly watching Nathanos, and to temporarily free the human from control, he had used sophisticated illusion magic to make Nathanos appear normal in the Lich King's eyes. But Medivh knew he couldn't lift the curse sealing Nathanos's memories; if he did, all those memories would flood the human's mind like a tidal wave.
Could Nathanos bear it? Could he accept the fact that he had killed his mother?
Medivh scrutinized him with suspicion. Perhaps he could, but the Guardians dared not gamble. This human was far too important to this world!
'If it weren't for him, the one resurrected by Arthas would have been...' Before Medivh could finish speaking, Sylvanas entered his field of vision, approaching Nathanos step by step.
He warned the Female Elf not to approach, but she...
Sylvanas raised her head, answering the Guardian's question with a resolute look. She could help Nathanos, by any means she deemed necessary, even if it meant deception.
"I hope you're right." Medivh sighed. He sensed a strange...understanding, or perhaps a bond, between humans and Elf. Perhaps Sylvanas really could do it.
"I can't feel anything! I can't feel anything!" Nathanos repeated the words with his eyes closed, trembling and looking terrified.
The Female Elf almost cried out in surprise when she reached out and touched him.
It's so cold!
That was a temperature that no living being should possess. Even a stone should have heat, but Nathanos's leather armor was like ice, and his body...
Sylvanas didn't let go; she held Nathanos tightly. The coldness was even more bone-chilling; the Female Elf felt her tears freeze, yet the glistening liquid still slid from the corners of her eyes, dripping onto Nathanos's face. Like seeds in the earth welcoming the first drop of rain at the end of winter, their sprouting shoots swaying in the gentle spring breeze.
Nathanos calmed down, though he couldn't open his eyes, but Sylvanas knew he could hear her. The most aloof member of the Windrunner family murmured to the human in her arms in a tone she had never used before, "It's all alright, my dear."
"Alleria ...?" Nathanos responded weakly, the voice so familiar, like a ray of sunshine warming him. Medivh stared in astonishment. What was the principle behind this? No magical text, no spell, recorded anything that could soothe someone in distress in this way. The Guardians had conducted many magical experiments in Karazhan and had never encountered anything like this.
"Just close your eyes." Sylvanas didn't stop just because it had some effect. She played the role of Alleria, gently stroking the human's eyebrows with her fingers.
"The sun has set, you will be alright. No one can hurt you now. When the sun rises..." She thought of Quel'Thalas, where Nathanos had fallen. Sylvanas sobbed silently, using all her remaining strength to utter her last words.
"We will all be safe and sound."
The last thing Queen Sylvanas said borrowed a line from a song lyric; I wonder if any readers noticed. (**)